Wide Awake
Now Playing: nothing--my parents are sleeping and I don't want to disturb them
Today my sister's shih tzu dog jumped up on my bed and licked me awake. I don't know what woke me, the jumping part or the licking part. Daphne (the dog) even dug me out when I pulled the covers up over my head. I looked at the clock and it was 9 am, so I figured that I might as well get up. I've got to take my car in for an oil change today and I also think I'm going to go over to the thrift store and see if they have any cool things. I've got a 5 dollar coupon for 5 dollars worth of whatever I find for free. Can't beat that.

Can't believe that the weekend is nearly over. Didn't it just start? Oh well, just takes me one week closer to the next time I meet with the vocation director. That's not so bad. AND I get to see my boss this week! I wonder how her retreat went.

I will be able to go to the Children's Home this week. I've got to remember to take the sketch pad that I promised one of the boys. Wonder if I'll remember. I'll also take in some of my dolls for the girls to play with. They'll like that.

Well, I guess I'd better get a move on. My parents aren't awake yet, but my sister and her fiance have left for church. I wonder if I can take the dog with me during my oil change. Guess I'd better not try.

Dang Modern Technology
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: the TV at my parents' house is on...my dad's watching it
I'm at my parents' house on my mom's laptop writing this entry at the moment. I've been trying to get Yahoo Messenger to work because I like going into their chat rooms sometimes when I'm a little bored just to see what people are up to. Well, the stupid thing won't let me sign in at all. ARGH! Good thing that my AOL messenger can run, I'm talking with a friend at the moment who's visiting her groovy sisters in New York (Hi Renee).

I'm still waiting to hear from the provincial of my groovy sisters to see if I can move into a house of discernment. I think that it could be awhile before I get a response. No big deal, I'm not sweating it. The vocation director sent me two reflection pages to reflect on. We're still going to discuss them one at a time, though. The next one that I'm reflecting on is about Friends. The one after that is about God. The previous one was about family. Anyways, these are thought-provoking.

Monday my boss should be back from her retreat. I can't wait until she's back. I've really missed her. She's told me that I can go to evening prayer with the Sisters at the provincial house when I want to, and I've done so before. I just have to remember to ask where it's okay for me to sit. I think there's "assigned" seating over there and I don't want to take any of the Sisters' seats. The Sisters who are at the door most of the time are starting to recognise me. So, I don't think I'll need to explain myself too much anymore.

I'm about to give up on this Yahoo Messenger thingy and throw the computer out the window...err...maybe not throwing it out the window, but this is bad... All I want to do is sign onto chat... ARGH!

Just Thinking
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Do your chain hang low? Young Jibbs
Check this out! This is the Vocation Director that I work with. Isn't it cool? I copied it from the website of the Sisters.

On Sunday, July 16, Sister Jean Marie showed her true athletic talent when she threw out the ceremonial "first pitch" at the Cincinnati Reds game at Great American Ballpark. Sister Jean Marie was invited by Great American Insurance to throw out the first pitch. The day coincided with the induction of three former Red's players into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Many who saw Sister's throw thought she did a better job than the Hall of Famers!


Anyways, just thought that was kinda cool.
On to the next topic. I was at a church for a talk on Darfur and the genocide that's going on over there. The talk was given by Nick Clooney (father of George and brother of Rosemary). He talked about how it's effecting families and how mothers have to sometimes make the choice which of their children to save. An example he gave of this is that the mother could carry the 2 year old child and the 13 year old child could run as fast as he could, but that left the 5 year old child to fend for himself. That particular mother went back to see if she could find her 5 year old son and she only found his head.

He concluded by stating that any help that can be given would be great. I didn't have any money on me at the time. I wonder if Christian Children's Fund is over there? He said that there are lots of organisations over there trying to help these people. Here are a few websites for you to look at:

www.crs.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.MillionVoicesForDarfur.org

What is going on in Darfur right now is the same thing that went on in Rwanda a few years ago. We need to help stop this. We turned our backs on Rwanda and millions died. Will we do the same to Darfur? I hope not.

The church that I went to is called Mother of God. I loved that place! There were many things to look at and reflect on. I'll have to go back there sometime when there's not something else going on so that I can just wander around and look. I had a feeling that the Sisters had been there...and sure enough, I went home and looked it up in the book that I'm reading. They ran the school...though there hasn't been a school there in forever.

Well, I'm waiting for word from the provincial to see if I can move into a house of discernment.

Also, it was awesome, the 2 vocation directors came to Tuesday night mass. I was soooo happy to have them there!

Peace,
Anne

A Time for Waiting
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: the sound of the dryer upstairs
Hello everyone! I know that the time between these entries has been getting bigger and bigger, it's just that I have been doing so much and taking the time to write an entry doesn't seem so important anymore compared to other things that are on my plate.

I asked the vocation director if I could move on to the next step, which is, I think moving into a house of discernment to live with the Sisters. She said that she had to talk with the provincial about it and the ball is in the provincial's court as to if I can do this at this time or not.

I've been working on the chat room that the vocation director asked if I could help her with. That's going to be in God's hands because I don't want to do anything about it because it's a chat room of the community's...not mine.

I'm also still reading the 500 something page book that I borrowed from the vocation director. It's interesting. (It's a history of the congregation).

The vocation director wanted to come see me at work sometime. I think that would be nice.

She also wants to sit in on a session between me and my therapist. I have mixed feelings on this one. I think it will be ok though.

Peace,
Anne

Countdown
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: The Macarena
Hi everyone!

Thought I'd make this short entry. I will see the vocation director on Wednesday and I plan to ask her about the next step. I hope that I'll be able to move into a house of discernment. The only thing is that they don't really have one right now. I wonder what it would be like to live in a house of discernment with the Sisters. I really feel drawn to this community, and I want to spend more time with them.

Please pray for me. I spent a few hours talking with my boss and she was a great help to me. I hope that I won't be so nervous when I talk with the vocation director.

Peace,
Anne

Everything at Once
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: Absolutely nothing
This has gone so fast that I can hardly keep up with myself. On the 4th of July, I went to a picnic/festival hosted by the Sisters of Notre Dame and my friend Renee and I walked around and saw all of the sights to see. We both bought icecream cones and just spent time browsing and listening to the music. I got to request the DJ to play the chicken dance on his keyboard and he did and Renee and I danced to it. We even saw my boss, who was sitting taking food orders, dancing bits of it while she sat...tee hee.

Anyways, that was fun. In the meantime, the vocation director e-mailed me and asked if I could help them set up a chat room for women who were discerning a call to religious life. I got that set up in no time and it's waiting on some approval and some minor details to get done. I'm soooo happy about it. I can't wait to train the Sisters to take it over and help participate in chat.

I get to see my friend Debbie tomorrow, she's a Franciscan Sister. I've known her since she was a postulant. We're going to probably go to Eden Park and hang out.

If any of you are interested in joining that vocation chat group run by the Sisters of Notre Dame, please let me know. I'll get around to posting the URL soon.
Please pray for a friend of mine whose father is dying. Also pray because one of the Sisters just died.
Take care.

Waiting
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: Too early for music
Well, I'm waiting to hear back from the vocation director. She gets off her retreat today so I don't think she'll e-mail me today at all. I want so much to call her, but I feel that I should probably hold off on doing that for a little while too just to give her some time to catch up with everything that's been piling up on her desk since she took off.

I wonder what she'll say about the chat room that she wants me to help set up for people who are interested in Religious Life. I'm super excited about the possibility! And I'm really honored that she would ask me to help her in this endevor.

On Monday, it will be week three for me of my new job. I still like it alot. They got a new stroller for the infants and it's a quad seater. I think that the babies will really enjoy having it and the toddler room has borrowed it at least once too.

I'm currently plant-sitting for my parents. I get to come home on the weekends and also in the middle of the week in order to water my mom's plants. Woohooo! Not very exciting. I wish my parents would hurry home.

Anyways, I've got a friend here with me who was also looking at religious life at one point. I know that she had been talking with the Benedictines at one point.

This 4th of July I have off work! I'm going to spend time with my friend Renee and we're going to go to the festival that the Sisters of Notre Dame are having in Covington. I'm looking forward to that. Think I want to stay away from my boss and the vocation director then because they might put us to work...lol, but then again, that might not be a bad thing. I like helping out with things.

Well, take care everyone.

Peace!
Anne

Where to now, God?
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Gonna Make you Sweat -- Music Factory
Wow! Time goes fast! It's near the end of my second week at Holy Trinity. I like it there. I'm still in the infant room and the babies are soo cute there. My boss kinda told most of the workers that I'm discerning a call to religious life with her community. I have mixed feelings about this. I'm very nervous about it because I don't want anyone at work thinking that I'm being treated any differently. I admire her enthusiasm though, too.

Anyways, the vocation director will be back from her retreat on Saturday or Sunday, and I'll hopefully hear from her sometime around then or this coming week.

I'm going to the festival that the Sisters are having at the Heights. My friend Renee is coming with me. It should be fun. The vocation director told me to tell my boss to put me to work at the festival. That might be interesting, but I'd rather decide that when the date of the festival comes instead of before then. Because I'm not sure how I'll feel that day. Plus, Renee might not want to work.

I'm really excited to hear what the vocation director has to say about the few things I e-mailed her about.

My boss is doing well in health, thank God! She invited me to one of her family functions and it was nice to join her for that.

Please pray for me and for my friend Sister Joanne.

Peace out y'all.

God leaves me Breathless
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Peppermint Twist
Hi everyone!

I love my new job! Monday will be the start of my second week there. So far, I've worked with the infants the most then the toddlers then the schoolagers. I've also been going across the street to the convent where my boss lives for evening prayer. I totally like it there.

Eep! I actually e-mailed the vocation director (who's on retreat now) and asked her what the next step is for me. I still have that homesick feeling for the Sisters and the prayer. I hope her response will be favorable. I won't know for another week or so though because of the retreat, though so I'll try not to think of it until I hear from her.

She wants to start up a chat room for people who are discerning a call to religious life as a Sister. I think that it would be a good thing for her to do and she's asked me if I can help her do such an endevor. I'm excited about it! I can't wait until she gets back so that I can ask her what her ideas were on a chatroom, and what kind of committment she'd be willing to put into it. I think it's awesome that she asked me and I've love to help with that kind of thing.

Pray for my new boss. She had a biopsy on Friday. I hope that she finds out that everything is ok. I can't wait to go into work tomorrow and ask her how she's doing.

Today I hung out with my friends Renee, Sr Joanne, and Sr Mary Carol (who are Sisters of Mercy) that are my friends from the Tuesday night mass that I attend. I had alot of fun. We went to visit a priest and we played Poker and I won five dollars. I didn't know we were playing for money. LOL.

Peace out!

God is Good!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: nothing because it's too early for music
Well, it's going to be day three of my new job and so far I really like it! For the summer, I'll be floating around any of the rooms that they need an extra person in. The first day I was there, I worked with the school-agers and the preschoolers and then the toddlers. My second day, I worked with the infants and then the toddlers.

My boss has been inviting me to evening prayer with the Sisters in her house and I really have come to like praying the Divine Office. When I left that first day and yesterday, I have gotten that homesick feeling for the Sisters and the prayers. It's the same homesick feeling that I had when I got back from Cleveland. I'm nervous, but I think that this may be where God is calling me. I am also very excited.

My boss gave me a book to read about the congregation. It's called "Soli Deo" which means God Alone. She told me that it might be easier than that 500 plus page one that I borrowed from the vocation director. I plan to read both.

The vocation director is in Mexico right now, helping out in an orphanage. I'm really excited for her and I really want to hear all about that when she returns. She's got a week of that and then a week or so of retreat and then she's back and I can call her.

Peace!